Isaac greeted Mrs. Castro as he climbed into the front seat. She was surprised to see someone besides her own child sitting next to her. She was also suspicious, thinking Rebekah or Tim made him go in the front seat. After inspecting Isaac more closely, she changed her mind. "Where do you go after Milwaukee?" she asked, making small talk.
"Uh, after Milwaukee, we go to Chicago," he answered politely.
Mrs. Castro's eyebrows raised slightly, "Why do you have two concerts so close together?"
"Well, you know, to make it easier for our young fans I guess. Then their parents don't have to drive two hours just to see a concert."
"Most people, girls at least, think it's worth the drive," Rebekah pointed out. She had been eavesdropping from the back seat, squashed between Tim and Katie.
"I think it's worth the drive," Katie said, also listening to the conversation.
"Yeah, but your parents might not think so," Taylor told her. Taylor was also in the back seat on the other side of Tim. Tim wasn't thrilled at all by where he was sitting. He would rather be in the front than between his sister and Taylor.
Rebekah broke into a wide grin, "Well, you know, you never know," she quoted Ike. He had said that in one of their interviews. Since then, Rebekah had been saying that phrase over and over, to the point where most people wanted to strangle her.
"I hope 'Where's the Love' is on the radio," Sarah said. She was sitting next to Zac. Zac was between her and Kristen.
"It won't be," said Rebekah negatively.
"It might be," Sarah returned, smiling at Zac. She was completely content sitting next to him. She wished that this day would never end. But Sarah didn't really think about the future. She stayed in the present for now. Sarah and Kristen laughed as Zac danced as much as he could in his seat and sang quietly. If he weren't in a car, he would sing louder, but he thought Mrs. Castro might get mad at him if he did. Katie watched Zac and smiled.
No one said or did anything after that. Everyone was thinking his own thoughts. Katie gazed out the window at the familiar landscape. She tried to imagine what it would be like at Hanson's house. She and Rebekah would probably be really shy and quiet the whole time. Katie kind of doubted they would ever get a chance to visit the guys at their house. They're never home; they're always on the road doing tours and stuff like that. Katie watched her house go by as they car pulled into the Castro's driveway. She waited patiently as everyone else climbed out before her.
Since it was past noon, they were all hungry. "Where should we eat?" Rebekah asked.
"Let's go to my house and eat," Kristen pleaded. "We can have mac and cheese."
"No," Sarah whined, "I hate macaroni and cheese."
"Sarah, you can have something else," Rebekah argued. The others agreed on macaroni and cheese. They walked to the Hadler house and proceeded to the basement. When the seven of them stepped off the stairs, the cool air of the basement relieved them of the hot summer sun. "It's really nice down here," Rebekah commented.
"Yeah, let's eat down here," agreed Zac. He retrieved a rubber band from his pocket and swept his hair up into a low ponytail.
"My parents don't let us eat down here," Katie informed them. Walking through the door behind the bar, Katie grabbed two boxes of Kraft macaroni from the wooden shelves. She led them back up the stairs.
"Two won't be enough," Kristen criticized.
"Too bad," Katie said. While they were in the basement, Sarah made herself a sandwich and was already eating. Katie found a big pot and started boiling water.
"I get to put in the cheese," Kristen implored.
"No, I get to," Zac argued.
"Fine, you can," Kristen gave in.
Folding his hands under his chin, Zac said, "Thank you man." Everyone laughed. Taylor and Isaac each grasped a box of macaroni and opened them. They poured the noodles into the now boiling water. As Katie stirred them, Rebekah took out seven cups and bowls.
"You know," Isaac said, "there are two packages of cheese, so Kristen and Zac can both pour one in."
Kristen and Zac looked at each other in amazement. "I never thought of that," Zac said.
"Let's race," Kristen suggested. Zac and Kristen poured their cheese in as fast as they could, spilling a little on the stove. They both finished at the same time. Kristen swept up the rest of the cheese with her hand and put it in the pot. Then she and Zac licked off their fingers.
When the macaroni was finished, everybody poured themselves a bowl and a cup of milk. Sarah finished and gave her seat to Zac since there were only seven chairs and eight people. Zac sat in one of the chairs at the counter. Quickly, Kristen dove into the place she always sat in, leaving a chair at the counter between her and Zac. Taylor took the seat between Kristen and Zac.
"I guess I'll sit at the table," Tim said, sitting down in one of the chairs. Ike, Katie, and Rebekah followed Tim to the table and sat down.
Since everybody was quiet, Isaac decided to try and start a conversation. "So how far away from here is Milwaukee?"
"About twenty to thirty minutes," Katie answered.
"Have you ever been there?" Zac asked, turning around to face the table.
"Oh yeah," Rebekah and Katie answered simultaneously.
Katie added, "I lived there until I was nine."
Sarah, who was standing at the counter, smiled, "I guess our dad was the man from Milwaukee." Everybody turned to Sarah and politely laughed. "He has no hair, too."
"But I don't think he has big toes and he doesn't know where Albertane is," Katie said. Everybody laughed and suddenly became silent. The girls were all thinking about how they got along so well with Hanson. They would miss them when the three Hanson's continued their tour. The Hadlers and Rebekah always knew they would get along with Hanson, but the guys had been more doubtful. "Will we ever see you guys again?"
"Sure," Isaac answered quickly, "Like I was telling Rebekah, I'll make sure we see you again. Even if I have to drag everybody over here."
"You won't have to drag us over here," Taylor said, as if his brother had implied something bad.
Zac joined in, "Yeah. We love you guys. We'll gladly come. We'll miss you too much." He put his hands over his eyes and pretended to cry. They all started cracking up after staring at each other for what seemed like minutes.
"Silence breaker," Kristen and Rebekah said in unison, which made everybody laugh even more. Kacey began to bark and ran to the door. Since everybody was laughing, they hadn't heard Katie's dad pull up the driveway. He opened the door and placed his key on the key rack.
"The ZIT brothers are in my house." The girls' dad always had some unusual greeting to his daughters' friends. To Rebekah, he used to say, "Howdy Stretch!" Once when Katie had two friends at her house that her dad had never met, he said, "There's strangers in my house!" He had nicknamed Hanson the ZIT brothers by scrambling HITZ-Z for Zac, I for Ike, and T for Taylor. He went upstairs to change out of his working clothes. Coming back downstairs, he grabbed a bag of potato chips and sat in front of the TV.
"Hey guys, let's go to my house so we can take pictures," Rebekah said.
Tim seemed annoyed by this, "Oh gosh, Rebekah. You're not actually gonna take pictures of them. Nobody will believe that it's them anyway."
"I don't care what everybody else thinks. I just want to have pictures to remember these two days when we got to meet our favorite band that we've been obsessing about all summer." Tim just raised his eyebrows, and they all walked to Rebekah's house to get her camera.
On the way there, Katie asked, "You guys don't mind us taking pictures, do you?"
"No," they answered together. Taylor continued, "We're used to it. We get our picture taken all the time."
"Yeah," Zac said, "everywhere we go there's flashing camera."
Katie, clutching her precious camera, followed Rebekah and Hanson to the Castro's house to pick up their cameras. Rebekah told them to run upstairs, get their cameras, and meet her downstairs. Her camera was in the family room and she had to stop in the bathroom. When Rebekah turned away, Isaac motioned Katie to follow them upstairs. She glanced at Rebekah and willingly obeyed. No one talked until they were in the spare room. Then Hanson explained why they brought Katie with them.
"We have a plan," Isaac said, his eyes twinkling. Katie looked confused.
"A trick on Rebekah," Taylor continued.
Zac hurried them along. He quickly explained their plan to Katie. She smiled as she heard it. As Zac explained the trick, Isaac and Taylor rummaged through their bags for their camera. "OK," Zac wrapped up, "now help us hide." The three guys stepped into the closet and sat down on the blankets and sleeping bags that covered the floor. There were even a few shirts and dresses that had fallen from their hangers.
"Maybe you should put our bags in here, too," Isaac suggested, "You know, in case Rebekah comes up here or something."
"OK." Katie picked up the bags one-by-one and stacked them on the boys.
"Thanks," Taylor said sarcastically after Katie threw his bag on him.
"Now go downstairs before Rebekah comes up," Zac demanded.
Katie had forgotten about Rebekah. "Right." She closed the closet door and ran for the stairs, trying to step down them as quietly as possible. She hurried into the family room and plopped down on the couch. To make herself look less suspicious, she grabbed a nearby Seventeen magazine and started flipping through it.
Rebekah walked out of the bathroom and looked around for Katie and Hanson. She couldn't figure out why the house was so quiet. "Katie?" she called up the stairs. Katie innocently joined Rebekah in the hall. "Where's Hanson?" Rebekah asked her.
Katie pretended to look confused. "Um, probably in some hotel in Milwaukee," she said, trying her best to keep from laughing.
"Yeah right, or in some crappy two-story house in Merton," Rebekah replied, rolling her eyes.
"I doubt it." Katie still kept a look of confusion on her face.
Now Rebekah was confused. Her stomach flip-flopped. "You mean Hanson was never here? That's impossible. That was no dream," she said, beginning to panic.
"It's every girl's dream. You had a dream that Hanson came here? Tell me about it!" exclaimed Katie, pretending to be clueless about what Rebekah was saying.
"I didn't think it was a dream," answered Rebekah unhappily.
Katie nervously glanced up the stairs. Rebekah was taking this much more seriously than she expected. When would Hanson come down?
Both girls heard a creak coming from upstairs. Rebekah snapped to attention, her eyes widening. All she could think was, "That is Hanson, isn't it?" Either it was Hanson or some super-sneaky robber. "Who's that?" she wondered, hoping Katie would know.
All three Hansons stomped down the stairs and into the hallway where Katie and Rebekah were standing, beaming from ear to ear. "We got you!" Zac yelled.
Rebekah was furious. "You guys were all in on this. How could I have fallen for such a lame trick?!" She tried her hardest to stay mad at them, but it was impossible. No one could have stayed mad with those three guys grinning back at him. Rebekah unwillingly broke into a smile.
"We did it!" Zac hooted. High fives were exchanged among the four tricksters.
"That was awesome acting!" Taylor laughed, congratulating Katie.
"It should win an Emmy," commented Isaac, holding up his hand for her to slap again.
"Thanks," she said, suddenly growing shy because of their compliments. She lightly tapped Ike's hand and returned both hands to her camera. "I thought you guys would never come down! You were taking forever!"
"Yeah," Taylor explained, "We were going to stay longer, but it was really uncomfortable in that closet."
"Oh! My back!" Zac exclaimed. He bent over, clutching his back, and walked around like an old man. Then he stood up and laughed evilly. Everyone soon joined in.
Katie realized that time was running out. "We should go take pictures now."
Rebekah agreed and ushered them all out, still embarrassed. Kristen and Sarah were impatiently watching the door while Tim played basketball. They sprinted over to the group, ready to begin taking pictures. Rebekah forced herself to forget about the trick and took charge again. "OK, so does everyone want a picture with everyone else?"
Most of them looked at her, a little confused. Katie understood what she was trying to say, "Yeah, at least, I do. I know they do," she said, pointing to her sisters. Rebekah tried to think of a sensible arrangement where everyone could have a picture taken with whomever they wanted. Noticing how Rebekah was taken forever figuring this out, Katie took over and quickly figured out a semi-organized arrangement. There were three Hansons, and five Hadler/Castros. Three times five is fifteen. Fifteen pictures plus some group pictures is about twenty.
"Can I go first?" Sarah asked quietly. Rebekah nodded and shooed her away. They decided to do the Hadler pictures in front of the Hadler house and the Castro pictures in front of the Castro house. The group pictures would be taken directly between the two houses. That would be fair. All of them walked to the Hadler's driveway. Sarah walked in front of the blue garage door and waited for a Hanson to join her. Ike walked up next to her.
"By the way, how's your foot?" he asked.
Sarah had forgotten all about the incident at Fun World, "It's fine," she said, smiling. Sarah posed with all three Hansons. Zac kept trying to put bunny ears on her during their picture. She tried to push his hands away. When she finally decided to hold Zac's hands down, Katie snapped the picture, and Sarah was done.
Kristen went next. "You owe me a signed pin up," she whispered to Isaac.
Ike nodded, "I know. I thought you forgot."
Kristen looked surprised, "No way!" Ike stepped away and let Taylor join Kristen.
Then Zac bounced up to her. He casually leaned his elbow on her shoulder closest to him. Frowning like a European model, he said in a deep voice, "I'm ready." Kristen laughed and moved her shoulder. Zac's arm fell to his side. He looked hurt, but then grinned at the camera.
Katie was taking the picture and she felt so lucky to finally to see Zac smile in a photo.
They continued their routine, finishing up the Hadlers and then heading to the Castro's house. For the third time, Rebekah grinned for the camera. She was the last one to get her picture taken. "OK, now for group pictures," she announced, snatching her camera from Katie.
As Rebekah ran inside to get her mom to take their picture, Katie spotted a huge white van coming around the corner of their street. "There's your mom," she told Hanson. Katie saw Rebekah spin around in horror and sprint into her house. They arrived hours earlier than she had expected. "We better get these pictures done soon, so you guys can leave," said Katie.
"Yeah," Zac agreed and greeted his family, who pulled into the driveway and killed the engine. A middle age woman with really long blond hair stepped out of the passenger seat. Mr. Hanson and their siblings waited in the car.
Rebekah tumbled out of the house with her mom following her. They both smiled at Mrs. Hanson, but Rebekah's politeness instantly faded. "Mom, I need you to take a couple group pictures real quick." Although she didn't appreciate her daughter's rudeness, Mrs. Castro excused herself and took the camera.
Katie stood silently as Rebekah arranged all of them in a way where they would all be seen. While she waited, she watched the white van. Katie noticed three little faces pressed against the window, staring at them. She liked the younger Hansons already. Rebekah pushed Katie to her knees in front of Isaac. Next to her was Zac. In the back row were the four tallest-Taylor, then Isaac, Rebekah, and Tim. Kristen, Katie, Zac, and Sarah kneeled in front. Mrs. Hanson followed Mrs. Castro and Rebekah to her sons. "Looks like you didn't get out of a photo shoot after all, huh?"
"We don't mind this one," Zac responded quickly.
"Yeah, this one's OK," agreed Isaac, squeezing Katie's shoulder. Katie smiled up at Diana shyly. Glad that her boys were happy, Diana warmly smiled back.
After at least three pictures from each camera, the restless models hopped out of their spots and said their good-byes.
"We'll see you guys later," Zac said, leaning on the van. Someone from inside banged on the tinted windows. Surprised, Zac turned around to find Jessie holding up four white cards. "The passes!" he remembered. He slid the door open and retrieved the backstage passes from his little sister. Turning around, he handed one to each of the girls.
"They're backstage passes for the concert," Isaac explained.
"So, now, we'll definitely see you guys there," added Taylor.
Katie took the pass in awe. They had been wishing for one of these all summer. Now she was holding one. "Cool," she voiced.
"Yeah, thanks guys!" exclaimed Rebekah. Katie recalled the look on Rebekah's face when she heard about Amanda and Theresa's passes. If she only knew then that she would be getting a pass, she wouldn't have been so mean.
"You're very welcome," answered Zac. Mrs. Hanson ushered her sons into the van and climbed in herself, thanking Mrs. Castro once again for having them.
"It was a pleasure," Mrs. Castro said, "They can come back whenever they want." Rebekah grinned.
Isaac slammed the door and waved. The girls also spotted seven other hands waving through the dark windows. Clutching their plastic-enclosed passes, they waved back.
They all watched as the big white van descended the driveway. It turned at the end of the short road and disappeared behind some pine trees.
"I can't believe they're gone," Katie said.
"I can't believe they were here," Rebekah answered dreamily. All five of them turned around and sat down in the Castro's driveway.
"Now what should we do?" Tim asked. He noticed Rebekah looking mystically at the tickets to the concert in her hands. "Get a life, Rebekah."
She looked up, "I'm sorry. I just can't believe they were here. I mean, this is stuff only girls dream of. We've been wishing to meet them, like, all summer. And tonight we're going to their concert. We've got almost front row seats!" Rebekah looked over at Katie who was staring into space, deep in thought. She snapped back into reality and Rebekah and her started laughing.
"What were you thinking of, Katie?" Rebekah asked her.
"I don't know, but what time is the concert?"
Rebekah looked at the passes she was holding. "Seven o' clock," she answered.
"Wow, we don't have much time."
"No we don't," Rebekah answered, "We should start getting ready soon."
"Yeah, we should." The five of them stood up. Tim disappeared inside the house. The girls could tell he was in his room, because they could hear the thundering bass of his music from all the way outside.
Rebekah suddenly said, "Wait a minute, who's gonna drive which way?"
"I don't know. Let's go ask them what way they want to drive," Katie suggested. Since they were closer to Rebekah's mom, they went in to ask her first.
As Rebekah shut the door, she yelled, "Hey Mom!" She heard her mom yell something from upstairs, so she ran up with the Hadler's dragging behind. Her mom didn't really care what way she drove so Rebekah volunteered her to take them home after the concert. "I figured your parents wouldn't want to pick us up that late," she explained as the girls headed to the Hadler's. When they found out Mrs. Hadler agreed with the plan, Rebekah rushed home to change. While she walked home, she happily talked to herself. Rebekah knew she looked weird when she did it, but talking to herself was sometimes comforting. "This is going to be the best concert ever! I know the guys will do great!"
